Time and Time Again
by Little Miss Dancer Girl
Summary: It's been eight months since he disappeared, and now finally the reunion has come. But eight months can change people, especially if you're Annabeth Chase.
1. Annabeth

**Annabeth**

I was running.

The branches of the dense forest trees tore at my arms and face as my legs carried me away. I wasn't sure what I was running from, but I had that feeling in the pit of my stomach that told me that whatever it was, it was dangerous. And it wanted me.

After what seemed like miles, I had exited the forest and faced a cliff over the restless, green ocean. So cliché, I thought, as I peeked over the edge, a 100 feet drop at least.

Suddenly I heard an odd noise coming from behind me. I felt my heart begin to patter at a faster pace as I cautiously turned my head around to find the source of the sound. What—or rather, who, stood before me was no shock, but it was the words that had me baffled.

"Daughter of Athena, you do not go to New Rome. You will not be accepted, for the Mark will plague the city through you," said none other than Hera, in a dark, hushed tone. She then disintegrated into gold dust, which surged at me, giving me no other choice but to step to my death over the edge of the cliff.

All I felt was the force of gravity pulling me away from the sky as I plummeted towards the sea. The distance between me and my death was slowly shrinking. I held my breath and braced myself for the landing.

But as I hit the merciless waves, I woke up screaming, darting upright in my cell.


	2. Thalia

**Thalia**

I couldn't sleep. My eyes wouldn't stay closed, and my breathing wouldn't slow down.

I rolled over to face my digital clock on my nightstand.

11:47. Shit.

If I got no sleep, I would be drowsy and irritable all day tomorrow. I tried again to calm down and focus on something other than what was haunting my mind.

Something other than Jason and Camp Jupiter…

_ "Thalia, honey, can you go fetch the lemonade from the truck?" my mother asked me, her fake smile plastered on her surgically perfected face as she took my brother from my arms. I could instantly tell that she was faking it. She was never this nice to me._

_ "Mom, what about Jason?" I questioned her sternly. I didn't trust my mother, even with my brother, her own son. She was unstable; you could never predict what she would do or say._

_ "Jason can stay with me. It's okay, Thalia; just go get the apple juice."_

_ "You mean the lemonade?"_

_ "Yes, the lemonade. Go get it." And with that, I turned and headed back to our big Volvo. I knew not to object to my mother because I knew how horrid she could be. Our fights would keep little Jason up most of the night, screaming and crying as if hell was being released._

_ When I got there, though, there wasn't any lemonade or apple juice. She tricked me, I thought. Why did you trust her, I scolded myself, as I ran back to my mother as fast as my legs would carry me._

_ But when I got to her, Jason was gone. She was holding herself and crying like a spoiled child, muttering, "He's gone… he's dead. My son…"_

_ My baby brother… was dead?_

I felt the familiar tears well in my eyes as I thought back to that day. Thank the gods he wasn't dead. But he was taken. The one thing in my life that had actual meaning to me was taken away from me.

I remembered all of the tear-filled nights following the incident:

_ "Mom, tell me what the hell happened!" I demanded, my voice quavering._

_ She shook her head as tears fell down her cheeks, causing her mascara to run. "I don't know… she just took him…"_

_ "Who! Tell me who!" I screamed, pushing the rocking chair down on its side. She knew exactly what happened; why won't she tell me anything, though?_

_ "What do you think you're doing with that chair, you little bitch!" She screeched, her claw-like nails now gripping a bottle of vodka. Wasn't it only a half hour ago when she had finished a whole bottle of whiskey?_

_ "I'm pushing the damn thing over! Who took Jason! You know, and you won't freaking tell me!" I hollered at her, feeling every heartbeat gift me with a new round of energy._

_ "Just shut up! Shut up and get the hell out of my face!" she cried, throwing the vodka bottle at me after chugging it all down with one swig._

_ "I'm not in your face, you horrid bitch!" I screamed, dodging it._

_ "Shut the fuck up, you monster!" She countered, sneering with an unnatural pleasure. Unlike her other hateful comments, that struck me. She never got this drunk, and she never said or did things like this to me._

_ "You know what! I'm outta here; I can't take another second in this hellhole with you!"_

_ "Fine, see if I care, you little piece of shit! Go ahead and get your god-damned ass outta here!" she hollered after me as I stormed to my room._

_And with that, I packed enough of my belongings to fill my backpack and got the hell out of there, just what she had wanted._

I shook my head. I needed to get the bitch off my mind.

I looked back at the clock. 11:54.

SHIT. I needed to get to sleep. Why was this so hard all of a sudden?


	3. Rachel

**Author's note****: It's been such a long time since I've last updated, I know, but I was having a little trouble with deciding whose point of view to write for this chapter. I also got caught up with my other fanfic, "Family Ties", and life in general. I'll try really hard this time to update more frequently!**

**Rachel**

It's been a little more than a week since we left Camp Half-Blood, and I think I'm starting to doubt Leo's skills with the _Argo II_. He says he knows what he's doing, but I can see dismay even in Jason and Piper's eyes.

At lunch today, I sat with Annabeth and Thalia. Both looked stressed. Annabeth's grey eyes were glimmering in fear, and I noticed a bit of shade under Thalia's as she slumped over her platter of food.

"I think we may end up at Camp Jupiter in a matter of days," I told them, trying to break the ice.

"I think I might die of exhaustion. I got absolutely no sleep last night," Thalia groaned tiredly.

"I'm just worried about how our little rendezvous will play out," Annabeth sighed, picking at her salad. "We have no clue what the Romans are like."

"I'm sure things will turn out just fine, Annabeth. I've seen it; it'll be okay."

"We can't be so sure," Thalia warned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Jason's memory of them isn't so stable yet, still. We don't have the full picture."

"Thalia's right, Rachel. Even though you're the Oracle and all, I wouldn't risk assuming anything just yet," Annabeth pointed out.

I wanted to protest, but you couldn't argue with a daughter of Athena, especially when she's tired and stressed. "I suppose so. The future could easily change in the blink of an eye."

Later that afternoon, as I was meditating in my cabin, I heard a knock on the door. "Come in," I said.

"Rachel, we're at Camp Jupiter," came Piper's voice from behind me.

I nodded. "Tell Annabeth I'll be right there," I told her as I stood up and turned to face her.

An expression of panic passed over her face. "Uh… Annabeth… she isn't doing okay, Rachel. She's gone crazy, and I don't know what to do. The Romans are getting impatient; they want to meet our leader," she rambled as I walked beside her down the corridor to Annabeth's cabin.

"Relax, Piper. I can handle this. You go out to the beach and tell them that we'll be right out," I reassured her.

She hesitated for a second, but then complied. I turned back to the door and cautiously opened it.


	4. Piper

**Author's Note:**** I know I promised I'd update sooner, but life has my brain scattered. I'd considered deleting this, but I am determined to finish it, even though it won't be as long as I wanted it to be. Thus, the chapters will be a bit longer than what I usually write. But hopefully when I have more time, I will start another story, but I am working on two as well as this right now, so I'd rather finish them all before moving on. Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: Right now, Rick Riordan is most likely preparing for the publication of ****The Serpent's Shadow****, and I am sitting at my desktop writing a fanfiction on his work. We are clearly not the same person, so he owns what he owns and I do not.**

**Piper**

I was hoping that Rachel could really handle this. After what I had seen only about an hour ago, I had doubts.

I thought I had it bad aboard the _Argo II_, but clearly Hera's little game has taken quite a toll on her. Ever since we set sail, she has become more tired, irritable, and frail. The tan seemed to fade from her skin, her blond curls eventually went frizzy and unruly, and her stormy grey eyes were as blank as a slate. About three days ago, she had stopped eating her meals. She would just push her plate away from her for each and every time we sat down to eat; the next day, she had stopped coming to dine with Thalia, Rachel, and me altogether. I was starting to think that she had an eating disorder, but I overheard Will and Pollux saying that she was sneaking food out of the kitchen to eat in her cabin alone.

The truth was that I was really worried about her. Jason had said that the Romans believed in strength and proving your worth; what would they do if they saw Annabeth, our leader, like this? Worse, what would Percy do?

That's why I went to go see her earlier. Even though what Hera did to Jason and Percy was completely out of line, she needed to get a grip before we met the Romans. We couldn't afford to look weak; we needed to show them that we are worthy of helping them fight Gaea and her giants.

"_Annabeth?" I asked softly, peering inside her cabin. She was sitting on her bed, staring at the wall. I could see from her bloodshot eyes and the several maps and books that surrounded her that she had been doing some studying of some sort. "Can I come in?" I asked hesitantly._

_She didn't answer at first; her eyes focused harshly on the wooden floor, and she was as still as a statue. I took that as a yes and walked in with caution. I looked at her books again, and they seemed to be about Ancient Rome and prophecies. _

_I looked at her face, which was worn out from months and months of stress. "You're worried about Camp Jupiter and Rachel's prophecy," I stated. The day after we set sail, Rachel said a prophecy for us: Wisdom's daughter walks alone, the Mark of Athena burns through Rome. I knew she was paranoid about it, but I guess she was more scared of it than she was letting on._

_All of a sudden, her face twisted in pain, and she shouted, "What else does it look like, you _ανόητο ηλίθιος*_? The Mark will plague the city… through me…" She crumbled to the floor, sobbing as if the world was coming to an end._

_I had no clue what she was talking about, but I walked up to her shaking figure, attempting to comfort her. Before I could kneel down and give her a hug, though, she snapped up and yelled, "_Φύγε από κοντά μου! Φύγε και δεν έρχονται ποτέ πίσω**!_"_

_I knew right then and there that she wanted nothing to do with me, and my pep talk would have to wait. I cowered out of the eerie cabin and tried to calm my racing heart._

As I reached the deck, the coast came into view. Several Roman-style structures stood among hundreds of acres of open space, masked by a layer of sea spray. I glanced at Jason and Leo, who were manning the wheel, and I could tell from their worried expressions that we were in for an even rougher ride once we set foot in New Rome.

*stupid idiot

**Get away from me! Go away and never come back!


	5. Clarisse

**Author's Note:**** I'm really sorry for not updating sooner! It's been a while, but this is the last chapter. I don't think I can lengthen it another chapter, because the plotline for this is really that short.**

**However, I'm so happy to finally finish a story! I mean, I have before, but that was a really crappy one-shot; this is a multi-chapter story!**

**No need to worry, though, because when I finish many or all of my other in-progress stories, I will start another one!**

**By the way, the idea for this chapter came from an episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, when Azula starts to go crazy when she cuts her hair and she sees Ursa in her mirror. It's a kind of twisted and angsty moment, but it's a lovely muse when you really think about it.**

**On that note, I'll leave you to read now…**

* * *

><p><strong>Clarisse<strong>

Not only have the Romans been waiting long enough for Owl Head to show up, but so have we. I can see in Reyna the Praetor's eyes that she's on her last nerve, and that creepy blond kid next to her is practically twitching. Jackson's ready to blow up, Thalia and Jason have that lightning in their eyes again, and the soldiers, both Greek and Roman, are getting impatient, too. I really don't want to wait, either, but Piper said that Rachel's talking to her, so that can only mean something really bad happened.

All of a sudden, the skimpy blond's eyes widened, and he muttered something like "She needs you," in a raspy voice.

Reyna solemnly nodded. "Jackson, I assume he's talking to you. Bring this Annabeth Chase to me."

Percy met her eyes for a second, then Jason's, before sprinting up into the vessel. Once he went below deck, an Iris message/image appeared, projecting what was happening in the ship.

_Percy went below deck to nearly run into Rachel, whose eyes were wild in fear. "Don't—be careful, Percy. She's dangerous. And… nice to see you alive," she told him before dashing away down the hall, probably to her cabin._

_He opened the door to Annabeth's cabin, and saw her standing in front of her floor mirror, a brush in her left hand, and her knife in the other. In the reflection in the mirror, Percy could see her grey eyes glowing in rage and her face contorted in pain and coated in tears._

"_P…Per—c—cy… where we—were y…you?" she stuttered, gasping through uneven breath._

_Percy couldn't help but gawk at what his once calm and collected girlfriend had become in just a matter of months, but his thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she turned around and flung the knife at him._

_Right then and there, his world stopped, as did his heart, as he flinched to his left just in time for the knife to pass by his nose by a mere inch. It stayed stuck in the wall once it pierced into the wood._

_He looked back at Annabeth, who whipped her head back to face the mirror, and sobbing, she stabbed the end of her brush into the reflective glass, causing a few shards to fall out and the rest to be marked with cracks the length of her forearm. Her crying was loud and desperate, and Percy longed to touch her, go reassure her that everything was okay._

_But it wasn't, unfortunately._

_However, words that could've done the same went unspoken as Percy quickly approached her and kissed her before she could hurt him in any way._

_Instead of pushing Percy away, or melting into the kiss, Annabeth stood still, with the exception of her sobs as he held her tightly in an embrace, his lips never leaving hers. Her tears soon met with his, and before either demigod knew it, an anger and sadness-fueled passion burst within them, and the tears exploded along with the feeling._

The vision faded, probably to spare us from seeing something that some of us are far too young to see, and I felt myself sighing. I glanced around at the others, expecting them to be relieved that the lovebirds were finally reunited, but all I saw was tension. Especially in Reyna, whose black eyes seemed to glisten like the flame in my father's.

We had come together to defeat the giants before Gaea wakes up, and we weren't off to a very good start. Time to welcome the fuckin'end of the world, I guess.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you liked it, and I can't wait for <strong>**The Serpent's Shadow**** and ****The Mark of Athena!**


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